I did speak to Gavin later. After I had a chance to calm down and could successfully resist the urge to punch his lights out.

I would continue to play for the team and he would stop riding my arse like the newest broom just come out. Now he would just yell at me like I was any other player, which meant…. Well, it was kind of the same actually, but now there was no deeper meaning behind it. He was just a whack job Quidditch Captain. Much like his father had been I suppose.

And it was a good thing for the team because we went on to win the Cup. It wasn't like I was the star player or anything but training a new chaser would have really set the team back. I won't say that Leo bribed me to keep playing, but the nice quill set he had received from Uncle Harry on his last birthday looked lovely sitting on my desk!

I wish I could say anything really exciting happened over the next few months, but no such luck. I swear it felt like the entire year was taken up by studying and practicing either for choir or the Cup.

And Viktor and I continued to perform at the hospital. You would think that as important as our work was the Professors would give us a break on our homework, but not even Professor Flitwick cut us any slack.

Viktor and I went back to our routine of taking jabs at each other whenever we could. Leo resumed trying to convince me that I was madly and secretly in love with Viktor Krum.

"Give it a rest, Leo." I sighed one day "I don't even LIKE him!"

"Have you seen Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron?" Leo winked at me "I am convinced on a good day she barely tolerates him. But she still loves him!"

"Leo! That is just… OK, it is true, but rude!" I couldn't help but laugh. Our Aunt and Uncle were perfectly horribly matched.

Leo and I had been spending a lot more time together. Jamie was too busy with his new boyfriend to pay any attention to us. And I was starting to suspect there was more than just friendship between Victoire and Teddy. We were spending less time as the trio we had once been and they were becoming more of a duo.

I guess it was a good thing Leo and I were so close. We had gone from scraping as kids to as close as a brother and sister. I was closer to him than I was to Scorpius and Cissa, which made sense, I suppose since the twins are so much younger than I am.

The only real concern were our O.W.L.s. We would not be sitting them until next year, but the Professors were determined that we be completely prepared for them. I made the mistake of complaining about it to Uncle Harry during spring break. He laughed at me and told me to just be grateful I wasn't worried about battling a dragon while trying to study. And that if I thought my Professors were strict I should try having Aunt Hermione set my study schedule.

That prompted Aunt Hermione to whack him with her bag and tell him to be grateful he passed at all. Uncle Ron made the mistake of laughing at Uncle Harry, which earned him a few whacks as well.

Sometimes it was kind of weird how close those three were. But it was nice to know that friendships did not end just because someone grows up.

I guess whatever issues that my father had with Aunt Hermione must have been worked out because he was not immune to getting a good clobbering with her purse. Mum whacked him on the other side when he said something about pink color coding being "charming".

I hope one day I have friends and family that I can have inside jokes with.

I knew that my father had held some… extreme… views on muggleborns. I mean, it was hard not to. We bloody well studied about it in history class. That wasn't awkward at all. Professor Binns never seemed to notice that every time he brought up the Second Blood War students would lean ever so slightly away from me.

And people wondered why I had so many anger issues. No one ever said anything bad. It wasn't like that. I would just get weird looks sometimes. Like every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. I stopped showing up to the feast by third year. The first two were horrible enough.

My Mum and her friends never showed up either. Daddy usually came with the other Aurors as some sort of show of solidarity. Or maybe it was guilt and penance. I never asked. I know the war is not something he likes to talk about.

When I was little he would always wear long sleeves no matter how hot it was. It wasn't like I didn't know what was under his sleeve. I was sort of curious, but I would not have hurt my father for the world so I never asked. After the twins were born, Mum made him get a tattoo to cover his scar. She said it was ridiculous for him to keep covered up and that he was only drawing attention to it anyway by keeping covered.

He must have thought he was calling her bluff when he said he would get tattooed if she did. He way underestimated Mum because she dragged them both to the tattoo parlor where they each got half of the Malfoy Crest tattooed so that when their arms were side by side it made the whole family crest.

I was pretty young so I don't remember much of that time. But I remember Grandfather Lucius laughing and both of my grandmothers giving Mum and Daddy the lectures of their lives. Something about setting a bad example for us kids. Grandfather pulled me on to his lap and told me that he and I should getting matching grandfather/granddaughter tattoos. I thought Grandmother Narcissa was going to hex him!

The horror of this year's "celebration" was almost on us. As usual I had promised Professor Flitwick that I would show up and sing, but afterwards I would be back in my room with food brought to me.

It was the last big event before summer began, so I absolutely was not going to miss singing with the choir. But I would absolutely not join the throng of whom fully half of whom expected me to start cursing people or… I don't know, trying to raise Voldemort from the dead.

Leo told me I was being silly. That even his Mum went and she had tried to turn Uncle Harry over to the Death Eaters.

But Aunt Pansy is braver than I am. I refused to admit to anyone but myself that I was hiding. Victoire and Teddy and of course Leo, knew, but the first two never bugged me about it. Leo had this idea that I should be some sort of social butterfly. He said that being reclusive only made matters worse.

Worse than people being terrified of my family? I am not really sure that was possible. But I loved all of my friends for their different approaches. Leo believed I could be bullied in to being a part of Hogwarts social scene. Teddy tried to tease me in to feeling better. Victoire would just try to love me through it.

None of their "techniques" worked, but it was nice that they wanted to try. I really just wanted to go to my room and study.

I would not insult the choir who Professor Flitwick considered to be heroes by refusing to sing. I didn't even want to exclude myself from that.

So I showed up. I sang. I hugged my father. He knew why I was leaving. With a kiss on my forehead he reminded me once again to behave myself.

"Daddy, were you ever "well behaved" in school?" I teased him.

"I will have you know, young lady, that before your mother, I was very well behaved." He raised one eye in that imperius manner all Malfoy men seem to have, if the portraits in Malfoy manner were true to life.

But wait… "Didn't you meet Mum in first year?"

He sighed "The summer before her first year, but it was MY second year!"

"So you were well behaved for an entire year is what you are saying." That hardly seemed like a fair comparison.

"That is one more well behaved year than YOU can lay claim to, young lady." Uncle Harry spoke up from behind me.

"Uncle Harry, that is… ok a fair point." I laughed, hugged my Uncle and left.

I gave a good glare to the group that had gathered to get a peek at my Uncle and father.

Stalkers!

When I made it back to the Ravenclaw common room I was surprised to see Viktor sitting there with a table piled full of food.

He must have made his way here while I was talking to Daddy and Uncle Harry.

"Are you opening a restaurant?" I tried for sarcasm, but I was stressed and exhausted from holding in the desire to shout at people that my father is NOT a bad guy! I mean would Uncle Harry, their bloody hero, hang out with someone he knew was a dark wizard?

My father is an AUROR! Did that count for nothing? When we all went out in public there was hardly ever a time when someone did not come up and thank my father for his work. These people had no right to judge him.

For Merlin's sake none of us were even out of diapers when that war ended.

"No." Viktor said quietly, but with a smile "I just thought you might want to enjoy the feast without having to be AT the feast."

"I… oh… ummm, thank you." I had no idea what to say to him.

"You are welcome. Now, sit down and eat." He motioned to the chair across from him.

I looked up towards my room where I had intended to go and study (hide) "Oh thank you but I will just…"

"I went through the trouble of bringing this here, Malfoy, the least you can do is eat a meal with me." He pointed more firmly to the chair this time.

I sat down and picked up a plate.

"Right, yeah… ok." Why was I suddenly nervous?

I thought he would want to badger me about why I wasn't down enjoying the festivities with everyone else, but to my surprise he wanted to talk about the summer.

Specifically, how we would coordinate continuing to sing at the hospital. We worked out a schedule, taking in to account both of our families' vacations.

It was actually kind of nice. We did not bicker or snap at each other once. I could almost forget what was happening downstairs.

As I went upstairs I looked back down at him "I still don't like you Krum."

He looked up and laughed "You keep telling yourself that Malfoy."

.